2025/05/01 by Jarrod M. Gogolski, Garret Gotthelf, Megan E. Hoover +4 · 1 voice
Chemistry · Materials Science · Environmental Science · #Radioactive element chemistry and processing #Crystal Structures and Properties #Chemical Synthesis and Characterization
paper · doi:10.1126/sciadv.adt7782
openalex publication_date 2025/05/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
Because of the scarcity of protactinium and the challenges associated with its separation and crystallization, even in sulfuric acid media where protactinium is relatively stable, there has been an incomplete understanding of the structural features of protactinium complexes. The characterization of protactinium sulfate complexes has been limited to those in solution, which have left key details unaddressed since the 1960s. This report describes a synthetic strategy to crystallize a protactinium complex using boric acid and sulfuric acid. Herein, the authors detail the results of hydrothermal synthesis and the single-crystal analysis of a novel protactinium sulfate complex, (PaO) 2 (SO 4 ) 3 (H 2 O) 2 . This work has elucidated structural features, providing groundwork for accurate computational analysis and clarifying previously unknown details on the coordination, denticity, and binding properties of protactinium sulfate complexes.